Progress Illinois

Over the weekend, Illinois Review posted a series of short interviews with five prospective GOP gubernatorial candidates asking how each would solve Illinois' budget crisis. As you might expect from Republicans fighting it out in a primary, all five advocated in favor of holding the line or cutting tax rates. They also blasted the Democrats for what they characterized as out-of-control spending. But when it came to specifics, the candidates largely violated what we refer to as the "Civic Fed Rule"; i.e, they failed to sufficiently explain how they would close an estimated $10 billion deficit next year.

You can head over to Illinois Review to watch all of the videos (excluding Sen. Matt Murphy, who didn't participate). In the meantime, we've transcribed excerpts from each segment where the candidates provided the most specificity. Here's what they had to say:

Sen. Kirk Dillard:

We are going to manage this state. We’re going to get a handle on Medicaid, which is now our state’s largest expenditure by cracking down on fraud. I’ve just spend two different sessions with former Speaker Newt Gingrich of the United States House … And Speaker Gingrich believes that 10 percent of all Medicaid is fraud. It’s our state’s largest expenditure and I’m going to work with my colleagues like Sen. Dale Righter of Matton and certain professionals to manage the care we are doing in Medicaid.

Let's just entertain the unsubstantiated claim that 10 percent of Medicaid spending in Illinois constitutes waste. After all, it's not like some abuse doesn't occur. In 2007, the state spent $12.6 billion on the program. Trimming the program by 10 percent would net the state an additional $1.26 billion in revenue -- a substantial number, but not nearly enough to cover the state's bills.

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In his ongoing effort to try to convince Illinois residents that the state's gaping budget deficit can be closed without raising taxes, State Rep. and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady appeared on Fox Chicago Sunday yesterday, where he downplayed the size of the deficit.  As you can see, co-host Jack Conaty wasn't buying it (watch the full video here):

Later in the segment, when pressed by the hosts to provide more specifics on how he would balance the budget, Brady proposed reforming Medicaid and state employee health benefits and perhaps instituting four to 14-percent across-the-board cuts. Brady also went on to repeat the claim that the state is spending "over $4,000 per man, woman, and child just within the state budget" -- a calculation he came to after dividing the $53 billion budget total by the number of taxpayers. There's just one problem with Brady's math: As Capitol Fax (subscription required) noted a week ago, over half of that figure is made up of federal funds.

In these types of media appearances, Brady is very careful to avoid talking about the human cost of the cuts he's proposing, instead focusing his message on better "management" and "streamlining" of state government.  When you consider that the bulk of those cuts would affect Illinois' public education and health care systems, it's easy to see why.

In the clip above, Brady says that Illinois has a choice: "We can lead the nation out of this economic disaster or we can continue to fall behind."  But guess what?  One of the reasons we've fallen behind is that our three percent flat income tax rate is one of the lowest and most regressive in the country.  It's hard to see how that system is going to "lead" us anywhere other than deeper in the ditch.